Red Cow Logic
To impure the pure and purify the impure, sounds like the illogical operation. In complex numbers, the conjugate of the number does the same operation. Do you know of a similar physical operation? If so, what is special about this illogical operation?
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0 Answers
I didn’t really understand the question. The paradox of the red cow already appears in the Midrash, but I think there is a logical explanation for it. The one who handles the cow becomes impure, and then the cow remains purer (because it passed on impurity to the priest who handles it), and therefore it is now ready and able to purify the impure.
But what about this and complex numbers? The conjugate of a complex number is also a complex number (with the imaginary part with the opposite sign). What does it mean that the conjugate does the same operation? Numbers do not perform operations. Perhaps you mean that the operation of taking the conjugate of any complex number performs an operation. The operation it does is to reverse the sign of the imaginary part (=reflection against the real axis). What is paradoxical here?
What physical action are you looking for? What is it supposed to do that would be similar to taking a close or a red cow? I didn’t understand.
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Asks:
A. If there is a logical explanation for this, it goes against the idea of the Midrash. (I said, “Achma…”)
B. In my opinion, this fact should not be pointed out as the reason why this is a constitution. In complex numbers, the conjugate of i+1 is i-1 and the operation of the conjugate on 1-i again gives 1+i. By analogy – ashes defile the pure and ashes purify the impure. The proof from complex numbers is not good because it stems from their definition, so I am looking for a similar idea from the world of physics in the macro or micro. If it exists, there is a problem with the Midrash because this is the natural reality. —————————————————————————————— Rabbi: Are you looking for a physical action that turns X into Y and Y into X? Warm water cools the hot and heats the cold. But this is just a reversal of direction and not a real reversal. Hot water does not become really cold but something between lukewarm and hot. And the same goes for cold. But even the cow does not do both actions simultaneously. It defiles the pure when it is prepared, and purifies the impure after it is ready. And according to the explanation I proposed, this seems to me quite similar to the example of lukewarm water.
B. In my opinion, this fact should not be pointed out as the reason why this is a constitution. In complex numbers, the conjugate of i+1 is i-1 and the operation of the conjugate on 1-i again gives 1+i. By analogy – ashes defile the pure and ashes purify the impure. The proof from complex numbers is not good because it stems from their definition, so I am looking for a similar idea from the world of physics in the macro or micro. If it exists, there is a problem with the Midrash because this is the natural reality. —————————————————————————————— Rabbi: Are you looking for a physical action that turns X into Y and Y into X? Warm water cools the hot and heats the cold. But this is just a reversal of direction and not a real reversal. Hot water does not become really cold but something between lukewarm and hot. And the same goes for cold. But even the cow does not do both actions simultaneously. It defiles the pure when it is prepared, and purifies the impure after it is ready. And according to the explanation I proposed, this seems to me quite similar to the example of lukewarm water.
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